Midwinter Wonders
by ultimatedramaqueen
Summary: Oneshot. Neal's probably thinking this: "Sometimes I wonder what some people are thinking when I see the presents they send. It's not that they're not useful; it's just that...what were they thinking! I mean, my daughter is getting them, Mithros! Why!"


It may not be the Yuletide season now, but to me September's a good time to start thinking about it!

**Midwinter Wonders**

BAM!! The door burst open and a little bundle of energy wearing cotton nightclothes and dark hair catapulted itself onto the large soft bed occupied by supposedly two people—now three.

The little bundle of energy which now could be identified as a little girl of approximately five years of age jumped up and down, disturbing the sleep of the bed's occupants—namely her Ma and Da.

One of the sleeping bodies stirred. "Ilane. Why are you up so early?" Yukimi of Queenscove yawned and was ready to snuggle back into the covers when her daughter screamed excitedly into her ear. "Mama! Mama! It's Midwinter Day! Midwinter! I've got presents. Loads and loads of 'em! Come on! I wanna open them!" Ilane tugged insistently on her mother's arm until Yuki finally opened her eyes with another yawn and dragged the soft, warm covers off of herself. Yuki looked back at the soft, inviting bed as she left the room with her daughter and sighed thinking that her husband was so lucky; he had not been woken up at an ungodly hour—if it was even possible.

Yuki knelt beside Ilane who had quickly plopped down onto the wooden rug that covered the floor at the center of the room. "Alright, darling. Which would you like to open first?"

"Umm…" Ilane put a finger against her chin and looked around at the huge pile of presents that had been sent to the family of Nealan of Queenscove. Then she pointed at the present which had been wrapped in the shiniest of shiny wrapping papers. "That one." Yuki smiled. "Alright," she said, reaching for the gift in shiny wrappings. Ilane took the present from her mother and solemnly examined the package as if observing the facets of a jewel. Then she nodded and without warning quickly tore of the wrappings and gasped. "Mama! Look look. It's a knife!"

Yuki eyes grew wide and she quickly took the weapon off her daughters hands. "Now who would send you such as thing?!" She took the card and read the name. "Oh…I see. Typical of him. It is to be expected," she said dryly. "Why don't we open another present darling?"

"Okay okay. This time I want something BIIIG!" Ilane opened her arms really wide and Yuki immediately selected one for her.

"I wonder what it is Mama," said Ilane once again solemnly surveying the wrappings of the gigantic present. She stood up and walked around it once then turned around then walked around it again. Then she sat down. "Lets hope it's not a basket of live chickens like last time," Yuki said. Ilane nodded but said, "But they were so cute and Aunt Daine said she wouldn't really mind if we ate them for our midwinter feast. I think she hates chickens." She suddenly tore of the wrappings of the present and her eyes grew huge in wonder. "Mama. It's absotively positutely not a basket of chickens."

"Now who would send you a cask of wine?! Your godparents seem to get more and more creative these days!" Yuki was furious—never mind about being Yamani.

As if the gods had suddenly decided to take pity on poor hyperventilating Yuki, the next ten or so gifts were normal presents a child would expect to receive for Midwinter—a doll, a dress with matching slippers, a book with many colorful pictures, an assortment of candies and other treats, a box of perfumes. Finally, only one present was left for Ilane to open. She was jumping up and down while she was seated, barely holding in her excitement. "I wonder what it is?" The small present was eagerly opened and Ilane lifted up a golden pen. A note fluttered down to the ground. Yuki picked it up and perused its contents. "The pen is spelled so that you never have to find a bottle of ink to dip it into. You only need to wet it a little with water and it writes. A useful gift."

Suddenly Nealan of Queenscove, or Neal, ran into the room. "You're finally awake Papa. I just finished opening my presents! Come see! I got a pen."

Neal blinked away the bleariness in his eyes and smiled. "I see. What else did you get?"

"Oh oh! See see! I got a knife for Midwinter!" Ilane ran to the said present and picked it up showing it to her father.

Neal nodded absentmindedly. "That's nice, pet." He smiled then his eyes were suddenly wide open and his face turned red with anger. "Who in Mithros' name sent you a sharp object?"

"I know the pen's kind of sharp, Papa. But it's useful." Ilane looked at him hopefully.

"Not the pen! The knife! Who sent my daughter a sharp object for Midwinter?!" Neal spluttered in rage—sleepiness all forgotten.

"Sharp object? Oh that. I probably sent it." Alanna was leaning against the doorframe to the Queenscove suites.

"YOU!" Neal violently jabbed his index finger in Alanna's direction. "You sent my daughter a knife for Midwinter!"

Alanna's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Knife? I didn't send her a knife. I sent her the pen."

"So it isn't you then," Neal visibly relaxed a little.

"By the way, you can keep the pen, sweetling," Neal told Ilane.

"Neal, there's a card." Yuki said.

"Ehem," Dom stood behind Alanna, "May I?"

"What is it Domitan?"

Dom took several steps into the room, bent down, and scooped up the knife and its wrappings.

"YOU! YOU! YOU!" Neal's accusatory voice accompanied his angrily pointing a finger at his cousin. "You sent it!"

Dom's looked sheepish. He scratched the back of his head. "I didn't mean to send it to your Ilane, Cousin Meathead."

Neal snorted in disbelief. "And you're calling me the Meathead."

Dom ignored Neal's jibe and continued explaining his side of the story. "I was meaning to send it to Kel, you see. So I handed it to a servant and asked him to send it to Lady Knight Mindelan. Apparently he heard wrong and heard Lady Mindelan instead. Thing is, as I found out after interrogating the man, he handed the present to another servant, saying it was for Lady Ilane. The other servant didn't know which Ilane and figured that it was for Ilane of Queenscove since I'm your cousin. So here it is and here I am. So I'll be going now. Gotta give this to Kel before she ignores me for 'forgetting' to give her a Midwinter gift."

Dom rushed out.

Neal's mouth was agape.

Alanna had to get a firm grasp on the doorframe to avoid sinking onto the floor from laughing so hard.

Yuki was rolling her eyes in exasperation. There was a card after all.

Ilane was staring at the present that Dom had placed into her little hands before he left. Then she suddenly squealed in excitement. "Look Papa! Look Mama! It's a lucky Yamani waving PIG!"

Everyone turned their eyes towards her and all the others presents were soon forgotten as everyone was trying to understand its symbolism. What could a Yamani waving _pig_ possibly mean? Poor Dom, all the negative attention was turned towards him. They even forgot about the guy who sent the cask of wine…

Meanwhile, as I (the writer) write this down, somewhere in the royal palace of Corus, Numair is sneezing three times in a row. What?! You don't think he could have sent the wine? Come on, let's be realistic. He would probably _accidentally_ drink from ink bottles if Daine didn't stop him in time!

Daine sent the dress.


End file.
